Um desafio na Linguística Aplicada contemporânea: A construção de saberes locais

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to discuss the relation between theory and practice and from there to develop the concepts of local knowledge and global knowledge. The decision to deal with this subject was the result of my involvement with the graduate course Reflective Practices and the teaching of English in public schools. It was felt that the course was not producing the results expected because the difference between theory and practice was not clearly understood or was not made clear to the student-teachers. How can one make global knowledge become local and perceive that what is true for one particular theory is not particularly true for all similar situations in which the theory might be applied? What is typical of a problem connected with theory? It might be a false interpretation of one of the fundamental concepts in the theory; for instance, if Global knowledge, presented as theory, as a path to be taken, was perhaps interpreted as valid for every and all classrooms. To what extent was there no connection between global knowledge, presented in the course as theory, i.e. theory coming from "places of knowledge" and what might be seen as a local problem? Here experience and expert classroom management might apply better. It is important to recognize as local a problem which is characteristic of a particular group or classroom. Apparently there was a disconnection between what was being treated from a theoretical point of view as a teaching-learning problem and what might be happening in a particular classroom or by a group of students in a classroom. In this case the problem is a local problem and would not put the theory into question. There would be a need, however, to adapt the theory to that particular case or forget theory and use teacher experience itself. The text develops the concepts of local and global and shows the presuppositions related to them.